Nexus S

Updated: 2 years ago

In Short

The Nexus S was the second "Nexus" device to come out of Google — after the Nexus One — in partnership with an Android manufacturer, in this case Samsung. Released in December 2010, the Nexus S was clearly cut from the same cloth as the original Samsung Galaxy S, though like the Nexus One it had specific Google flair. The Nexus S brought considerable spec improvements, including 16GB of internal storage, a 4-inch 480 x 800 display, 5MP camera, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and 512MB of RAM. All packed in a curvy black body that was well received from a design standpoint.

The Nexus S was used as the launch device for Android 2.3 Gingerbread, bringing a redesigned interface with a new green and black color scheme, new keyboard, system-wide copy & paste refinements, as well as performance improvements. It also introduced native support for SIP/VOIP calls and NFC.

The Nexus S came in two U.S. variants, one for AT&T (i9020A) and one for T-Mobile (i9020T), each being identical aside from radio bands supported for those two networks. There was also an i9023 model for global markets, and the m200 for Korea. In early 2012, the Nexus S was released on Sprint as the Nexus S 4G (SPH-D720), on account of its WiMax radio that offered higher data speeds. The GSM models supported up to HSPA+ 21 data speeds.

Though there have been many Nexus devices since the launch of the Nexus S, it will most definitely go down in history as an important building block of the Android platform and Nexus program as a whole.

02 November 2012 103By Jerry HildenbrandFrom the Nexus One to the Nexus Four — and a couple Galaxies in between
Back in the winter of 2009, the rumors were flying about Google getting into the phone business...

19 July 2012 36By Bla1zeIf you've been hanging onto your Nexus S, waiting impatiently for Google to start the roll out of Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean to your device, you won't have to wait all the much longer. It seems as though the update is slowly rolling out as of right now...

18 July 2012 27By Richard DevineIt seems like the good news week is set to continue for Nexus fans, with reports emerging that the hotly anticipated update to Android 4.1 is set to starting rolling out to the Nexus S over the next couple of days...

09 April 2012 3By Jerry Hildenbrand
Wind customers with a Samsung Nexus S should get ready for the big OTA to Ice Cream Sandwich, as it appears to be rolling out now. AC reader Vic Singh tweeted in to let us know that his Nexus S was updating, and we knew that you guys would want to know...

03 April 2012 7By Jerry HildenbrandA few days ago we saw the very first factory images for the Nexus S posted by Google. Previously you had to use a community-supplied image to go all the way back to 2.3.4 and then manually flash the updates. It was a pain, and we're glad that Google and the hardware vendors got it all worked out...